Mary Harney
Question:3 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the number of persons that have been appointed by him to his ministerial office; and the responsibilities allocated to such persons.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ministerial Appointments.
In addition to a programme manager and a special adviser, there are seven other staff working in my ministerial office. Those seven are serving civil servants and are engaged in normal administrative duties arising in a Minister's office.
How many women has the Minister appointed to his ministerial office?
Nobody has been appointed to the ministerial office, the existing staff have continued to work there.
And the Minister is responsible for equality and law reform.
There have been no appointments to that office.
I am aware that the Minister's programme manager and special adviser are both male. Are any of the civil servants in his office female and if so, how many? Also, is there any person with a disability working in either his ministerial or constituency office?
My previous answer was not quite correct. The private secretary who was in the Department for some weeks after I took office was transferred to another Department and I have appointed a new female private secretary. Will Deputy Harney repeat her other question, please?
Has the Minister appointed any person suffering from a disability either to his constituency or ministerial office?
The only people appointed to the Department since I took office are those who were transferred from other Departments. No new independent positions have been created.
Since taking office the Minister has appointed a private secretary to his Department and seven civil servants to his ministerial office, which is his sole responsibility? He has also appointed a programme manager and adviser. It is not good enough that the Minister has not seen fit to include at least one disabled person, given his special responsibilities and the Government policy of a 40 per cent gender representation on all State boards.
It is early days yet. The programme manager is a special appointment and, obviously, that must be a Labour Party person who would be motivated to advance the Labour Party's aspects of the Programme for Government. There was only one person of suitable stature and seniority from the business world and managerial ranks, who I think is known to the Deputy, and that person was the only one eligible and qualified for the post. I will give careful consideration to appointments in the future both from the point of view of gender representation and appointing people with a disability. Staff in my Department will be moving soon to new offices and the Department has gone to considerable expense to ensure that those offices are accessible in all respects for people with a disability who might be working there.
I call Deputy Shatter.
Miss Harney rose.
I am sorry, Deputy, we are running out of time and I have two more questions to dispose of. I will allow a brief question.
Will the Minister agree that, given his special responsibility, he will have to lead by example to encourage his colleagues? While I have no particular concern in regard to his programme manager or adviser, both of whom I know to be excellent individuals, will he clarify what he said earlier in regard to the position having to be filled by a member of the Labour Party? Is that the case with all Government Ministers?
That was an extension of the previous question.
That would be the position with Labour Ministers. Appointments to such positions would have to be of people who would be known to be sympathetic with the objectives of the Labour Party and who would be motivated to advance the policies of the Labour Party as outlined to a large degree in the Programme for Government. The Government's objective is to ensure that this programme is not put on a shelf and forgotten. It contains many important Labour Party policies which Labour Ministers are anxious to have implemented within the timespan of this Government. For example, I have referred already to some of the 210 recommendations in the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women and the major undertaking it will be to advance as many of those as possible, not alone within my Department but in all the Departments of State. My programme manager has been given the task of liaising with all Departments to ensure that a careful watch is kept on the activities in all Departments to ensure that those recommendations, which we all want to see implemented, are implemented as soon as possible.